


Little Wanderer

by SioDymph



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Blind assumptions and headcanons about the next marvel films, Headcanon, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, inspired by a song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 20:06:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9140275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SioDymph/pseuds/SioDymph
Summary: Bruce has been gone for months, going on years now. But Tony still keeps hope that's he'll see him again someday.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ivebeenavengered](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=ivebeenavengered).



> for @ivebeenavengered
> 
> I loved your request and actually discovered and fell in love with the song "Little Wanderer" by Death Cab for Cutie. I especially liked the line "But Someone's gotta be the lighthouse, and that someone's gotta be me" and tried applying that heavily to the first section of this one-shot. And I'm sorry this is a bit late and cut a bit shorter than I had anticipated. Regardless I hope you're having a wonderful Holiday season and that 2017 treats you well!

He'd been called a hot dog and a hot head more times then he could even count and sometimes it felt like it was literally true, that Tony was a glowing ball of hot gas that demanded all focus and energy. And if his teenage years, and especially his twenties were anything to go by it could be a curse. Despite how much fun it always was to be the ring leader at parties there was always the cameras. No matter where he went or what he did it always ended up on the news the next day. It was like a constant presence whenever he went out in public, like the world and its investors were just waiting for him to make his next mistake.

But being such a bright light also had its many advantages he'd realized as he got older. He'd been born into the limelight and knew how to wow and capture an audience as easily as walk or breath. And despite the news always making his life out to be the impulsive actions of a drunken, spoiled maniac, every single choice Tony Stark made in public was deliberate and purposeful. Now so even more than ever before in his life.

That was because Tony Stark knew completely well how much power he could hold over crowds, and more importantly cameras. Every news outlet always loved to go on and on about how over-the-top and crazy his latest schemes and publicity stunts were but unknown to them that was precisely what Tony wanted. By always being front and center. By constantly demanding so much attention, having all eyes on himself at all times, he could always keep the masses distracted. Keep them from looking for the people he needed to protect. Like the now illegal Avengers hiding across the globe with their asshole Captain. Or Peter, somehow he managed to reminded him of himself and Steve so much sometimes he'd get second-hand embarrassment from the kid. Tony would never forgive himself if anyone tried to get their hands on him.

He knew though that by doing the one other thing he did better than anyone, keeping an audience, he could keep them all safe. While almost everyone he knew was gallivanting across the globe, he felt like he was some sort of home base watching everyone else do whatever the hell they were doing out in the world. Keeping a look out for everyone and making sure they never got into too much trouble. And maybe hoping that everyone would come back to the now empty tower.

Especially Bruce...

So far his plan appeared to be successful. After the worst of what was being called the Avenger's "civil war" instead of news exploding with countless articles about prisoners from the Raft Prison mysteriously escaping without a trace, rumors and gossip about Stark secluding himself and investing time and funds into prosthetics made it onto most newspapers and broadcasts. And instead of a young hero being dubbed "Spider-Man" being on the very front page of every paper in New York, Tony Stark moving back to Stark Tower in the city and giving away his latest slew of grants to upcoming engineers was what made the news first. No matter if the news was good or bad Tony made sure his news was always featured first and greatest. And Tony couldn't help the slight feeling of satisfaction that something he use to hate so much had become one of his greatest weapons, sometimes even more effective than his suits.

But even with his basic plan working perfectly as it should it could only help so much. Compared to the complete and utter train-wreck these past few years had become distracting the masses from the Avenger's current whereabouts was like putting a single sandbag down to stop a flood. It was a solution that didn't even scratch the surface of how badly ruined, how messed up the Avengers had become. He still couldn't even read Steve's letter without seeing red and either wanting to build something or tear it apart. Anything to try and keep his hands busy and not think about it all too much. Still wanted to punch the Captain in his perfect teeth though.

And then there was Bruce. Despite everyone's judgment and everyone's assumptions about the two of them. They were still much closer then anyone had realized. Out of all the Avengers, not counting Thor of course, only he knew Bruce's current whereabouts. No one from the team, not even Pepper or Rhodey knew. Not even Nat, though Tony was certain by now she must of had her suspicions, even if she hadn't acted on any of them yet.

Still of all of SHEILD's intelligence and spies and resources, only Tony knew where Bruce and Thor were. The two had been lying low in Australia, hiding in plain sight. And Tony and Bruce had been keeping their own ways of communicating long before then.

In a secret compartment in his room only accessible to himself was a phone that was nearly impossible to track, no one else in the world even knew it existed. Along with the phone full of calls and texts, there was bundled stack of photos, and letters going back to a little over a year ago. God, sometimes Tony would forget how it had only been a year since the Avengers fell apart. For him it had felt like a whole lifetime had gone by...

But whenever Tony found himself utterly alone at Stark Tower well into the night, which had sadly become much more often then he was ever comfortable thinking about, he'd go to his room and open the secret compartment. Then after he carefully untied the bundle, he'd spread out all the papers over his bed and read over everything slowly one by one.

Most of the earlier letters he knew by heart now but he read over them all again anyways. Eyes lazily following the curls and loops in Bruce's handwriting. He could hear Bruce's voice in his head, as if he was right there along side him. And he'd trace his fingers along Bruce's still face in the few pictures he'd risked sending to him. Sometimes, he was clean-shaven while in others he'd actually grown a full beard much to Tony's surprise. No matter how he looked like though he was always gorgeous to Tony. Warm brown eyes, sometimes speckled with flashes of brilliant green, his calm face smiling, and despite the exhaustion clear on his face he still looked content. Maybe not fully happy, no one apart of the former avengers had been happy for a long time, not since Ultron. But despite everything he at least looked at peace.

In the very last letter Bruce wrote mentioning how Thor had offered to take him to Asgard, to live with gods and to help protect their world from its own prophesied destruction. Bruce wrote that he'd accepted Thor's offer and it would be impossible to keep writing letters to him after that. Not even ravens could travel between dimensions he'd tried joking. That this was his last letter for now.

But he promised he would come back. No matter what happened on Asgard he would come back to earth again. That he'd come back to Tony.

And despite every logical part in his brain thinking against it, he knew that someday Bruce would be back. Someday after all this mess of super humans and other worlds and UN Acts and civil wars was straightened out and left in the past they would be back together. Able to do whatever the hell they wanted. Even if it wasn't like it use to be, before corrupt AI's where it felt like in their labs the Science Bros could make anything together. Maybe after all this was over they could become something different. At this point Tony felt like they could both retire decades early and go hiding in the middle of nowhere and he'd still be happy. Just as long as he a Bruce were together again.

His mother had always said quippy, little idealistic things like "Absence makes the heart grown fonder~" and as a kid he'd just assumed that she was just saying things to make Dad's absence not seem like as big of a problem as it was. But now that he was going through all this with Bruce, he couldn't help but feel that at least some parts of that saying were surprisingly true. At least for him and Bruce.

Instead of his care and love for Bruce petering out or clinging to the old days long gone he found himself, maybe for the first time in his life, sticking with someone. Sticking with Bruce. Following through all his adventures in every letter and text, falling more and more in love with his face and eyes with every picture he got of him. The rare calls he made his bitter heart feel warm when he heard Bruce's voice, when he was laughing, talking about his day, even when he was exasperatedly telling Tony for the billionth time he wouldn't hulk out to help his side win. He was in so deep, deeper than he'd even been with Pepper, deeper than anything he'd been in in his life, besides his love for robotics maybe.

But now the airways were silent, instead of countries he was entire worlds away. And Tony had nothing but fondness and hope to keep him going through this shitstorm of a year. And miraculously enough it was actually working.

He was sad, and of course he was lonely. But for the first time in a really, really long time for Tony there was also belief. He didn't know why, especially when all logic and reason pointed to him never seeing Bruce again, but he believed in him. He believed he would see Bruce.

And at this point, between dealing with Ross and SHEILD, throwing himself under buses and keeping the whole world away from his team somehow that hope kept him going despite it all. If nothing else it helped him sleep at night. Especially now that he was alone in his bedroom every night, so much that he'd become use to it. Having that hope kept him sane in a world that was getting so much crazier.

Even when he wasn't there, Tony could still hold onto Bruce.

~~~

Months went on and his plan was beginning to fail. It was inevitable but Tony still hated to think that it would happen. That eventually New York's Spider-Kid would become bigger news than any big-wig Tony could organize, or invention he could release. After Peter's latest fight he'd advised the kid against, the whole city was flipping on itself trying to figure out the secret identity of their new hero. Every news outlet from paper to TV to every conspiracy blog in the city was putting out rewards for anyone who would figure it out.

It was so needlessly complicated and stressful, it reminded Tony why he'd just come front and told the world himself. But he would be a dead man before he ever let Peter do that. Unlike himself, there was no way Peter Parker would be able to legally hold his own against a whole city full of enemies. Tony might of been jealous of Peter's quick rise in popularity if it weren't putting himself in direct danger without fully realizing it.

Luckily Cap and his team were smart enough to keep their strict low profile. Besides the one message Steve sent him, he'd hadn't heard a peep from anyone on his side as well as Widow. Only a handful of images popping up on security cameras across the world which Tony easily removed from existence before anyone else could see them.

And there was still no news from Bruce. In the beginning Tony felt confident he could make it through but now, going on months with no contact, no communication, it was really beginning to mess with his head. At this point Tony would take letters written in ink and sent by raven, anything just to let him know Bruce still existed. That Bruce was still thinking about him too. What if something happened in Asgard? Something not even the Incredible Hulk could handle? The idea in itself was like an oxymoron, that something could destroy someone so indestructible. Yet it still wormed into his head. Just what if.

And no amount of throwing himself into work could help the knots in his stomach. Bruce could be in danger and here he was trapped on earth feeling utterly useless. It reminded him of how it felt when he'd finally come home after his kidnapping. But then the ironman suit had been his solution. Now, he wasn't sure what his solution could be. If there was even a solution left to find.

He'd gotten so desperate as to go to one of Thor old friends, Erik Selvig, and try to see if there was any way, any way at all that he could contact someone in Asgard from Midgard but Selvig had said there was simply no way. Or at least no way that could be entrusted with humans.

Left to his own devices Tony decided that if no one else had figured it out yet then maybe he'd just have to be the first. From all of SHEILD's records portals going between the two emitted light. So what if there were a way to transfer a message through light? He spent weeks pouring over all the theoretical math, having to create his own math and rules the further and deeper he got. And eventually out in the middle of nowhere, with a machine built more so on theoretical assumptions and blind hope, Tony tried to send a message, seven letters turned into light that briefly flashed before disappearing into the universe.

_Hi Bruce_

He had no way to prove if it worked or not, and to be honest he wasn't to concerned on trying to prove anything of it. He didn't even need Bruce to respond. He just needed to at least try. To let him know he was still a live on Earth, and still thinking of him.

That night he got his response, though Tony had no way to prove it was even real. But the night after his fourth day of communication attempts he had a strange dream. The dream was just two images, but they were so strange yet so real that Tony knew there was no way he could of dreamed them.

The first was a gigantic colosseum and in the center was the big green guy, God he hadn't seen him in two years now, he'd almost forgotten just how massive the other guy was. It was breath taking to see, the Hulk stomping around and giving a skin-prickling roar. He was wearing gladiator armor and held a giant hammer despite already being a invincible but Tony couldn't of cared less. But just as quickly as it had come, the vision disappeared in its place was another. Somewhere in Asgard Thor was walking with his whole posse of iron-clad, cape-wearing, Nordic warriors. And Tony almost didn't see him at first, but near the front of the group walking alongside Thor, wearing some sort of grey tunic, and hair grown out into long brown curls, was Bruce.

And then Tony woke up. Not a shred of evidence to say it had even happened. But Tony felt happier than he had in months.

~~~

Tony had always imagined reuniting with Bruce as him coming home on a plane. He'd race past crowds until he finally saw Bruce, and the two would finally embrace after over two years apart.

For starters there was no plane, no boat, not even an inter-dimensional portal. It turned out Tony was the one who had to come to him, along with all the Avengers and then some. And it was only because the entire universe was about to be destroy by a purple giant. At least there was a crowd to push past, granted it included a talking raccoon and tree.

But still, at least they were finally able to see each other face to face. In that moment Tony could of cared less about keeping face. He sprinted, actually sprinted over to Bruce and tackled him in a hug. And nothing else in Tony's life could ever replace the moment when he felt Bruce's arms wrapped tightly around him and hugged him back.

"Tony" Was the only thing Bruce said before suddenly his lips were on his. And in just that, Tony felt like he was told entire novels.

 


End file.
